Memories of a past war

Feb. 15 marked the 105th anniversary of an explosion that sank the US battleship Maine at the Havana harbor in Cuba. The blast, later traced to a mine, killed 260 people.

The Americans pinned the blame on Spain, which at the time was resisting the Cuban movement for independence and was crimping American business interests in Cuba, mostly involving sugar.

Even before the explosion, support for war had been building up in the United States. The sentiment grew after Spanish colonizers placed Cuba under martial law in February 1896 and "reconcentrated" locals into sites guarded by Spanish troops. A letter from the Spanish foreign minister, critical of the US president, which the New York Journal published on Feb. 9, 1898 further fanned American support for war. Six days later the Maine sank. Two months later US President William McKinley ordered a blockade of Cuba. On April 25, 1898 the US declared war on Spain.

Six days later a US fleet under Commodore George Dewey arrived in Manila Bay and decimated the Spanish armada. War in Cuba would begin a month later, with US Marines capturing Guantanamo Bay.

On Dec. 10, 1898, Spain formally lost the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and other islands, marking the end of the Spanish empire.

* * *

I am recounting this not only because of the anniversary of the Maine explosion, but also because to this day there are people who believe the Americans themselves engineered the attack to justify a declaration of war against Spain. Will a government sacrifice 260 of its own people in pursuit of a certain policy? No, but what if the game plan did not intend to have such a high death toll? The debate goes on.

And I am recounting this because fears have been raised that the way events are unfolding, it may take a 21st century version of the Maine explosion to get key world players on board in the US plan to attack Iraq.

Even if that slippery Osama bin Laden gets his wish to die a "martyr" this year — indicating, of course, that he would personally lead an attack on US interests, something on a scale perhaps greater than 9/11 — the "coalition forces" would still need to establish a conclusive link between Osama and Saddam Hussein.

Of course a smoking gun may still be found to persuade the United Nations, which is becoming notorious for hemming and hawing in the face of crisis, to give the coalition forces its blessings. And Saddam may be insane enough to launch an aggressive move that will precipitate a retaliatory strike.

But if you can’t find a smoking gun to declare war, will you create one?

* * *

CHICKEN FEED: A relatively old joke is once again circulating on the Internet because of the looming war in Iraq. These are some of the imaginary answers to the question: Why did the chicken cross the road?

• GEORGE W. BUSH:

We don’t really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either with us or it is against us. There is no middle ground here.

• AL GORE:

I invented the chicken. I invented the road. Therefore, the chicken crossing the road represented the application of these two different functions of government in a new, reinvented way designed to bring greater services to the American people.

• BILL CLINTON:

I did not cross the road with that chicken. What do you mean by chicken? Could you define chicken, please?

• SADDAM HUSSEIN:

This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it.

* * *

TOURISTS KEEP OFF: Tourism Undersecretary Armand Arreza, officer-in-charge of the Intramuros Administration, wrote to deny that guards of the Department of Tourism or the IA were the ones who stopped my brother and a group of foreign amateur photographers from taking photos of Intramuros recently. So who else wears barong Tagalog, has an ID card, is equipped with a hand-held radio and tells photographers to bug off if they have no permit and have not paid the fee to take pictures inside the Walled City?

Arreza, by the way, admitted that IA requires those interested in taking film or video footage and photographs of Intramuros for commercial purposes to apply for a permit and pay corresponding fees.

The permit for moviemaking I can understand. But how can you tell a commercial photographer from an amateur enthusiast? Arreza explained that they did not want a repeat of previous incidents. Once, a foreign company took video footage of Intramuros that ended up as videoke backdrop, he wrote. Another time, a photographer was caught taking photos of "half-naked" women. Some published articles or captions of photos of Intramuros also turned out to be inaccurate because they failed to coordinate with the IA, Arreza wrote.

Unless the material is pornographic, perverted or sickeningly violent, I don’t see what’s wrong with parts of the country being used as backdrop for videoke. The most famous tourist spots in the world end up as videoke backdrop, and I bet those who took the video footage were not required to get a permit. Also, I’m not sure what "half-naked" means. We do have laws against indecent exposure and alarm and scandal that apply not just in Intramuros but nationwide. Any scandalized citizen can call the cops anytime, anywhere.

The worst way of promoting Intramuros is to try to control information about it. The only reason I can think of for photography permits is money; the IA must be that hard up.

* * *

This isn’t too surprising. Even the Catholic Church can bleed Intramuros visitors dry. Last week I parked my car inside the compound of San Agustin church to visit an antique shop across the street. Parking space is one of the biggest problems in Intramuros. For 10 minutes of parking I was billed P30. (The church, although tax-exempt, issued an unofficial receipt, probably for its own accounting purposes.) Church coffers must be drying up.

Touring Intramuros, you are reminded of the complaint of Filipinos from as far back as the Spanish period: there’s always a price or a fee to pay in this Church, from cradle to grave, from womb to tomb, from sperm to worm.